Ashley Westwood sees ‘something special’ in Charlotte FC as captain, face of the club

Even after deciding to leave Burnley in the U.K. and take on a new challenge in the United States, Ashley Westwood still faced plenty of obstacles before he could join Charlotte FC.

He spoke to then-Burnley manager Vincent Kompany and informed him of his desire to try something new. Then he talked to American chairman Alan Pace, who granted that wish and allowed Westwood to leave on a free transfer. Then came a trip to Charlotte for a medical exam — as Westwood was still recovering from major ankle injury.

The English midfielder passed it and completed his transfer to Charlotte FC in January 2023, three months after electing to pursue the move. He had finally cleared the many “hurdles,” as he and his wife Rebecca called them, required for him to join the Queen City club.

Then came the real challenge.

Westwood was selected as the club’s captain by former head coach Christian Lattanzio before the 2023 season. While it didn’t change what he’d set out to accomplish in Charlotte, he was now even more responsible to help build the culture and togetherness of a young club that had just finished its first season in MLS.

Even with a multitude of changes and an up-and-down first year, he has done just that. With a new head coach in Dean Smith and Westwood still at the center of everything, Charlotte has rounded into good form with an impressive stretch of results throughout the first half of this season.

Westwood’s ambitions seem to slowly be coming to fruition as the captain, backbone and now face of Charlotte FC.

Another opportunity to lead a club has been long in the making for Westwood.

What Westwood brings to Charlotte

The midfielder occasionally captained Crewe Alexandra at the age of 21 and helped the Railwaymen to promotion from League Two via the playoffs. Westwood was named the club’s captain at 22 before leaving for Aston Villa in 2012. He made 486 appearances for three clubs across all four divisions of England’s Football League and has brought that experience to Charlotte.

“When I first spoke about coming here, (general manager) Zoran (Krneta) was the one that said the group needs leadership and needs direction,,” Westwood said. “I’ve been in football since the age of 6, so I know how a lot of clubs work. I just wanted to come here and be a nice guy and bring a togetherness to the whole building.”

“Now we’ve got a manager that does exactly the same. I truly believe we’re building something special.”

Lattanzio named Westwood captain after he was acquired by Charlotte FC and he has continued to wear the armband after Smith’s arrival.

Both Smith and Westwood had long tentures at Aston Villa but weren’t on the club at the same time, with Westwood leaving for Burnley in 2017 before Smith was hired in 2018. However, both had contacts at the club and heard positive things about each other before joining forces in Charlotte this season.

“(Westwood) being the captain and being English has probably helped me a little bit because he can give me an insight into the dressing room and he can give my message. I mean, as long as I obviously connect with him, and we have connected so far,” Smith said.

Westwood has enjoyed captaining a younger group at Charlotte and said he’s taken a larger role in providing directions on the pitch than at previous clubs.

The midfielder got to see current Everton winger Dwight McNeil come through Burnley’s ranks and says he gets a similar joy when he sees young players like Patrick Agyemang scoring, as he did twice in Charlotte FC’s recent 2-0 win over Philadelphia Union .

“From the very jump, it was very clear that he was a great captain, great guy and took a lot of the young guys under his wing and made them feel welcome,” 2023 draftee Andrew Privett said. “He’s the first one to give you a little bit of praise when you’re doing something right so I think that goes a really long way.”

The Premier League veteran is aiming to instill the same work rate and belief in his young teammates that he feels has been necessary for him to get to the level he’s played at for well over a decade. Westwood’s quality in training sessions is something Smith has consistently praised him for since joining the club.

“I was never the best growing up, but my hard work and dedication and sacrifices I made, made me get to the Premier League,” Westwood said. “That’s hopefully what I want to show off to some of the young lads here. You don’t have to be a great player, but as long as you work hard, you’re a good person, that gets you a long way in life.”

Westwood has long looked up to former Manchester United captain Michael Carrick and has compared his style of play to the midfielder as far back as 2012 after making his move to Aston Villa . He believes it’s still an apt comparison now, and Westwood has provided a similar stability as Charlotte FC’s pivot in Smith’s three-man midfield.

“Technically, Michael Carrick is one of the best I’ve played against,” Westwood said. “He’s not one that got a lot of credit. But whenever you speak to players who played with him, they would always say he’s the best player who they played with. He was very unassuming, got on with his job, was fit pretty much every game.”

“He was a seven or eight out of 10 every game, you knew what you’re gonna get from him and that’s what I always wanted to be.”

Westwood has also been intent on advancing the ball from his deeper position in Charlotte’s midfield, something he also excelled in at Burnley . The Englishman ranks in the 82nd percentile of MLS midfielders this season in progressive passes with 6.9 per 90 minutes.

“I do like creating chances, I like hitting long balls in behind defenses, to stretch the teams and break the lines with my passes,” Westwood said. “It’s something I’ve grown up being able to do, just to try things and not worry about giving it away because if you don’t try things, they’re not gonna happen.”

And despite his age, the 34-year-old ranked second in the league in total distance covered before missing Saturday’s loss to the Houston Dynamo due to yellow card accumulation. With his technical and physical abilities still among the league’s best, he believes he has a lot more left to offer.

“In preseason, I was top of the running, there’s only Brandt Bronico and Ben Bender that were ahead of me,” Westwood said. “So the minute I start falling to the bottom of the running, that’s when I’ll call it a day. But I think I’ve got three years in me, the way I’m running now, three years at least.”

The same can’t be said for every player that joins an MLS side during the latter stages of their career. Some with even longer and glitzier resumes than Westwood’s have moved to the U.S. and flamed out.

In order to prepare for the move and his time in MLS, he sought advice from England, Manchester United and Everton legend Wayne Rooney. Westwood sat down for a drink in December 2022 with a mutual friend and Rooney, who moved to D.C. United in 2018 and managed the club between 2022 to 2023.

“(Rooney) told me to embrace the culture, because there’s a lot of different things with the MLS rules and everything,” Westwood said. “He said it’s a league where you have to be fit, so it gets overlooked a lot that the quality is exceptional, the fitness levels you have to be at. And if you’re not there, you get found out.”

“Thankfully, I listened to him. I worked hard in the offseason here and then I hit the ground running.”

It wasn’t too hard for Westwood to do so, as he was ready to leave England and move abroad for a new experience when the opportunity to join Charlotte FC arose.

“Me and the wife always wanted to experience a different culture,” Westwood said. “We talked about going to Spain, but like I said, we’ve got about two kids. So coming here, everyone speaks the same language, so it made it even easier.”

Westwood suffered a long-term ankle injury in April 2022 that required surgery and an intense recovery. Burnley got relegated and hired Kompany, who still saw Westwood as key to his plans despite the midfielder temporarily considering retirement.

“(Kompany) wanted me there. I think he had visions of me being captain there,” Westwood said. “He didn’t name a captain in Burnley until November, because that’s when I was originally due to come back, so I think he saw me playing. But then as soon as this opportunity came about, I had to go and speak to him.”

Talks between Westwood and Charlotte FC accelerated in October 2022, which led the midfielder to speak with Kompany and then with Pace, Burnley’s American chairman, who told him Charlotte was a great city and that he’d allow the veteran to leave the club on a free if he wanted the move.

He completed the transfer in January 2023 and helped Charlotte FC to its first MLS playoff berth last season. The club has had even more success this year under Smith. The Queen City side sits sixth in the Eastern Conference with 32 points from 21 and boasts the joint-best defensive record in the league, conceding an average of one goal per game.

“The way (Smith) works, he’s organized, that’s what his teams have done,” Westwood said. “The work he did at Brentford, I think [he’s] the reason they are in the Premier League now, the work he did, he set up foundations.”

“He’s come here and he’s just brought the whole club together. … Everyone wants to come in to work for him, and we’re starting to see a real proper football club now.”

Westwood didn’t know about the large crowds Charlotte FC had drawn in its first season and has praised the continued support that’s seen the club rank second in total attendance in each of its first two seasons.

He said June’s 3-2 win at Atlanta United , which saw about 2,000 supporters travel to Georgia as a prime example of the support Charlotte FC has received and the culture he’s aimed to cultivate since joining the club.

“This year I think we’ve got a real connection with the fans,” Westwood said. “We see their energy and now they can see a team that runs hard and works hard for each other so there’s a real connection there and we value their support so much.”

Westwood has consistently focused on forming that connection with fans and teammates since joining the club, which has involved him organizing a group trip to Top Golf last season and nights out with his teammates.

“When we organize something, there’s usually a big group that turns up. That’s when you know you’re creating something,” Westwood said.

With that effort on and off the pitch, Westwood has been crucial in creating an environment that sees the third-year club on course for its best season yet.

His experience so far has led him to call joining the club and moving to Charlotte “the best thing I’ve ever done.” He’s been quickly embraced and hailed a fan favorite. Now, it appears the man and captain who has served such a crucial role in building Charlotte FC is prepared to continue to do so for as long as he physically can.

“I said to the wife, I want to come here and leave a legacy, leave a mark on this football club,” Westwood said. “But when you start being here for a year, you start getting greedy and then you want more. We made the playoffs, which is what we wanted to achieve last year.... The aim this year was to go one better, so we’re on the right track.”

“We’ve got a real chance as a group of players to create history and be in the history books for many, many years.”